The Middle Passage was a triangular route that was frequently used by many European nations who engaged in the Atlantic slave trade of millions of Africans. One such African slave was a man by the name of Olaudah Equiano, who 's autobiography spoke of the mortality rate on slave ships, what he and his fellow slaves thought of their European captors, and what their captors thought of them. According to our textbook, the mortality rate on slave ships was varied quite a bit. It was usually only around 15%, but sometimes was so high that by the time the ships reached their intended destination, half or more of the slaves aboard the ship were dead (Roark, Johnson and Cohen, The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Growth of Slavery). According to Olaudah Equiano 's autobiography, this was due to a number of things. First, the living conditions on the slave ships was horrendous and as a result many slaves either got sick or contracted diseases. This was a big problem because European slave traders would pack the slaves into very small holds on the ship which resulted in overcrowding. This coupled with the hot weather these ships operated resulted in the illnesses and diseases spreading faster which caused many slaves to die quite rapidly. The second reason for the high mortality rate of slave ships was due to the fact that many slaves killed themselves trying to escape. Slaves frequently tried to escape the ship by jumping off the ship into the water. The problem was that many slaves did
Middle Passage- the perilous journey to the new World by African slaves in which they suffered from disease and death. They had little to nothing to eat or
The conditions on the Middle Passage were horrible. The space allotted to each slave was often too small to move the shoulders and the neck and legs were chained down. Many slaves died on the voyage and never made it out of the hull of the slave ships.
The Middle Passage (or Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade) was a voyage that took slaves from Africa to the Americas via tightly packed ships. The trade started around the early 1500s, and by 1654 about 8,000-10,000 slaves were being imported from Africa to the Americas every year. This number continued to grow, and by 1750 that figure had climbed to about 60,000-70,000 slaves a year. Because of the lack of necessary documents, it is hard to tell the exact number of Africans taken from their homeland. But based on available clues and data, an estimated 9-15 million were taken on the Middle Passage, and of that about 3-5 million died. While the whole idea seems sick and wrong, many intelligent people and ideas went in to making the slave trade
The Slave Ship by Marcus Rediker is a great fiction novel that describes the horrifying experiences of Africans, seamen, and captains on their journey through the Middle Passage. The Middle Passage marked the water way in the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas. The use of slaves provided a great economy for the European countries due to the fact that these African slaves provided free labor while cultivating sugar cane in the Caribbean and America. Rediker describes the slave migration by saying, “There exists no account of the mechanism for history’s greatest forced migration, which was in many ways the key to an entire phase of globalization” (10). This tells us that African enslavement to the Americas causes a complete
c) The middle passage was the voyage that the African American slaves took from Africa to
Historically, the Second Middle Passage refers to the era of time and action of which slaves were traded and sold between U.S. states. This is referred to as the Second Middle Passage as the first one was quite similar to it-- the original Middle Passage refers to the time and process in which slaves were first brought to the U.S. from Africa and even the West Indies. Up until December 18, 1865, when the law abolishing slavery in the U.S. was adopted, slavery remained a viable means of torture that would allow free labor and money for Southern Colonists. For a portion of time, the U.S. relied on the backs of slaves to carry on their whole production processes and maintain economic balance. Overall, the Second Middle Passage was called so due to the majority of similarities between that era and the original Middle Passage, such as the same brutal process in which slaves were attained, the auctioning of slaves, and the number of slaves traded and sold within the domestic slave trade statistics.
The Middle Passage, the second, or middle, leg in the triangular trading routes linking America, Africa, and Europe, was the name for the voyage of the slaves across the Atlantic Ocean. America was the popular destination for people selling slaves because they were sold for up to thirty times the price of the slaves sold in Africa. The higher amount of money made by selling the slaves in America caused a number of crammed vessels full of African-American men, women, and children to head through the Ocean towards America. The conditions on the ships were horrible for the slaves. The slaves were chained to the decks by their necks and legs, and the enslaved people were so packed that they could not even turn around. Death of many of the slaves
Middle Passage is a novel filled with different techniques such as allusions, foreshadowing, humor, character transitions, and many other techniques. Charles Johnson, the author of this amazing novel wanted the readers to acknowledge the past and present events. He connects the past and the present with many different examples. One example is when the police hit Santos for no reason. This comparison is made very clear and simple enough for the readers to understand that police brutality continues to this day. Charles Johnson uses such vibrant words to make the reader feel, smell, hear everything that was going on in the novel. It’s as if this book comes to life throughout his descriptions, and the techniques used that
The Middle Passage was the last leg of the trip by sea in which the African slaves rode in the cargo hold of the ship until it reached the West Indies or America. This trip could last up to 2-3 months. The slaves were kept in the cargo hold and were packed so tightly that there was no room to sit or stand. Many of the slaves died in the middle passage for one of three things. Many died of asphyxiation because of how hot the air was in the cargo hold. Some died of starvation, but most died of diseases. When the ship reached the Americas the slaves would be auctioned off never to see their families again.
The introduction of international trade throughout the continent provided the Americas with goods once thought unattainable. Different trade routes began to stem from the original triangle route. All of these routes had one goal; to transport the goods in high demand in the most time and cost efficient way. The different branches were trading systems between the America’s, Europe, and Africa. Through these routes, captains traded goods and services such as slaves, sugar, tobacco, cotton, textiles, and many other manufactured goods. One history changing route was the Middle Passage. The course of this route was used to transport kidnapped Africans so they could be enslaved in the Americas. Within a three hundred year period, it is
The middle passage was a passage on the sea that kidnapped slaves would have to experience. They would be taken by force, put into harsh conditions on a boat headed to the west indies. Many slaves died because of exposure to bacteria which causes disease and cuts from the shackles on their wrist. The africans were treated terrible, if they died they were often thrown overboard.
The Middle Passage was part of the triangular trade that existed between America, Europe, and Africa. It was an extremely harsh boat ride in which slaves from Africa were brought to the West Indies. The Africans were tightly packed
The book Middle Passage by Charles Johnson tells a story about the triangular slave trade which took place early in America 's history. This book was written with such close attention to detail that it gave the reader a sense of what life was like on board a slave boat. Johnson 's writing style included many different techniques including the use of varying structure, imagery and language. All of these devices helped create a very successful story about slavery.
The Middle Passage was the next phase of the transatlantic slave trade. The Middle Passage was the worst and most grueling experience of them all. During the Middle Passage, male and female were separated from one another. Captives were often kept below the boat until the shoreline was no longer in sight. They did this to avoid the captives from escaping. In my earlier years, I was conditioned to believe that slaves were jumping off the boat to commit suicide,
The trade of Africans was part of Triangular trade, from Europe to Africa, Africa to the Americas, and the Americas back to Europe. The journey from Africa across the Atlantic was known as the Middle Passage. For many months, enslaved Africans were treated terribly on the voyage. Slaves were packed on top of each other into the bottom of the ship. African men wore iron chains around their wrists and legs and had little room to move. The chains and cuffs prevented revolts and escapes. Revolting slaves would be shot or drowned. Women and children were sometimes